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General information Maldives
 
Country: Maldives
Top-level domain (ccTLD): mv
Population: 369.031
Language: Dhivehi
Currency: rufiyaa (MVR)
Telephone: +960
Area: 298 km2
Flag:
Flag explanation: The flag of the Republic of Maldives is red with a large green rectangle in the center bearing a vertical white crescent; the closed side of the crescent is on the hoist side of the flag.

It is the official and most commonly used symbol of the Maldives and was adopted on July 25, 1965.
Located:
Continent: Asia

The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is located south of India's Lakshadweep islands, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The Maldives' twenty-six atolls encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, roughly two hundred of which are inhabited by local communities.

The name "Maldives" derives from Maale Dhivehi Raajje. Some scholars believe that the name "Maldives" derives from the Sanskrit maladvipa, meaning "garland of islands", or from mahila dvipa, meaning "island of women", but these names are not found in ancient Sanskrit literature. Instead, classical Sanskrit texts mention the "Hundred Thousand Islands" (Lakshadweepa); a generic name which would include not only the Maldives, but also the Laccadives and the Chagos island groups. Some medieval Arab travellers such as Ibn Batuta called the islands "Mahal Dibiyat" from the Arabic word Mahal ("palace")" . This is the name presently inscribed in the scroll of the Maldive state emblem.

The inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka's period, in the 3rd century BC. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives came then under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires. And in 1887 it became a British protectorate. In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name "Maldive Islands"), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.

The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of population. It is also the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world.